biography
| name: |
Kress, S(amuel) H(enry)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1863–1955)
|
| biography:
| Retailer, art collector, and philanthropist, born in Cherryville, Pennsylvania, USA. He bought his first two stores in Pennsylvania (1887, 1890) in collaboration with his brother, Claude Washington Kress (1876–1940). By 1900 the brothers owned 12 stores in the South, and the chain of 51 five-and-dime stores, S H Kress Co, was incorporated in 1916, with headquarters in New York City. A Kress's death the chain numbered 264 stores. An art collector who specialized in works of mediaeval and Renaissance Italy, he was president of the National Gallery of Art (1945–55) and a director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He donated hundreds of paintings to 14 museums across the USA and gave millions of dollars to restore historic buildings in Italy. He established the Kress Foundation (1929) to which he bequeathed most of his estate. He suffered a paralytic stroke in 1945. |
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